You can find the book here.  It is especially helpful to Arminians looking for answers to various Calvinist teachings regarding TULIP.

I believe that a truthful reading of 1 Timothy 2:3-4 reveals the obvious, that God desires the salvation of all people and that He has sent His Son to be the mediator between humanity and God (v. 5) who is the ransom for our sins (v. 6).  While God desire the salvation of all, He has not decreed the salvation of all.  Whatsoever God decrees will come to pass.  His decree was to send His Son to die for our sins (Isaiah 53).  His Son fulfilled that decree (Acts 2:23-24) and now in Him all can be saved who cry out to God for salvation (Acts 2:21, 38-39).  Jesus bore the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1 John 2:1-2) and His blood alone provides the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 13:38-39; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7).

So what to make of 1 Timothy 2:3-4 and the desire of God to save all people in His Son yet the reality is that not all will be saved as Jesus said (Matthew 7:13-14)?  Certainly one must agree that Scripture does speak of the elect of God (1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Peter 1:1-2).  Yet I see in 1 Timothy 2:3-4 the reality that God has given humans the gift of free will.  He does not force people to salvation despite R.C. Sproul’s exegesis of John 6:44 (while ignoring John 12:32 which uses the same word for draw).  God has decreed that He would send His Son to die for humanity but He has also placed conditions on the gift of salvation and mainly faith in Jesus Christ.  Salvation is a work of God that He brings through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9).  All who come to Jesus in faith can be saved (John 6:37).  Those who reject the Son will not see life (John 3:36).  Whosoever can come and believe and be saved (John 3:15).  This does not make the gift of salvation any less than a gift simply because God has determined in His sovereignty to save all who come to Him through His Son (Romans 11:6).  Grace is still grace even if it is received by faith.

Therefore I conclude that God desires the salvation of all.  He has decreed that His Son would bear the sins of the world and that God would reconcile humanity back to Him in His Son (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).  I believe that God has also given people free will and that no person can be saved apart from the work of the Spirit in bringing conviction of sin and the application of the gospel (John 6:44; 16:8-11).  The Spirit works through the preaching of the eternal gospel to draw sinners to the Savior (Matthew 28:19-20) which is why evangelism is vital (Mark 16:15-16).  None can be saved without the work of the Spirit.  Yet the Spirit does not force people to receive the gospel.  He works through the gospel.  He convicts of sin.  He does not force regeneration.  He regenerates where there is true faith in the Son.

We should then learn from this that 1) God desire the salvation of all and we should make it our aim to preach the gospel to all.  2) We should pray for the Holy Spirit to take the Word of God and open sinners hearts to the gospel of His grace and mercy (Romans 2:4).  3)  We should make it our aim to worship this wonderful God who has chosen to send His Son to redeem fallen humanity.  That would include us all (Romans 3:23).  We are saved only by His grace.

Are there really false converts in the modern Church?  Of course there are.  Comfort does a good job of showing in the teachings of Jesus that there would be sheep and goats (Matthew 25:32), wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30), and many who will say on the day of Judgment that Jesus is Lord but He will not be their Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).  Comfort walks his hearers through Mark 4:1-9 and the parable of the sower with Jesus’ own explanation of His parable (Mark 4:14-20).  He shows from Mark 4:14-20 who the true and false converts are.

Several points he makes are solid.  Comfort points out that salvation is a work of the Spirit of God.  No Arminian would disagree.  We believe that the Holy Spirit takes the gospel and He opens the sinners heart to receive the Word of God.  While the Spirit is not mentioned in John 6:44, no doubt He is the one who leads us to the Father to be saved through the Son (Acts 16:14-15) as Jesus said that He would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11).

Next Comfort points out that if a person is truly saved, we will not need to baby sit them to keep them saved.  Some think that we need to take a new disciple and take them away from temptation and away from the world and away from their old friends but Comfort says that if a person is truly saved, temptation drives us to Jesus and not away from Him (Mark 4:20; Romans 5:1-3; James 1:2-5).  Comfort points out that true salvation leads one to build on Jesus so that when storms come from the world or from temptation, we are on solid ground in Christ but not so with the false convert (Matthew 7:24-27).

The differences I had with his teaching were not that there are false converts.  I agree that there are many false converts.  However, Comfort holds to eternal security and therefore he believes that every person who turns away from Christ was a false convert.  He points to Judas Iscariot.  He points out that Judas was not a believer who fell away.  He says that Judas was a false convert.  He turns to John 6:66-71 and points to Peter as a true disciple who falls into sin but comes back but Judas was never saved to begin with.  He points to Luke 22:31-34 as proof that Jesus was praying for Peter but not Judas.  He points out that Judas is called a thief in John 12:6 and not that he became a thief.  Judas was a thief the whole time he was with Jesus.  He was a false convert.

From this, Comfort holds that a person can seemed to be anointed, seem to preach the gospel (as Judas did), and seem to do great things for the Lord but inwardly they are like Judas, a thief and a false convert.  He points to Acts 20:30 to wolves who will arise inside the church to deceive people from Christ.  They are wolves who appear to be sheep (Matthew 7:15).  No matter how long a person may “serve” Christ, if they do not remain faithful to Him, they are a false convert.  They were never born again.

I know some Arminians who would agree with Comfort on this.  They, like Comfort, hold to eternal security but only if a person remains faithful to Jesus.  If they fall away, they were never saved to begin with.  I have dealt with such teaching before on this blog and will not labor back over that.  I actually could sit under that teaching (and by the way, I do appreciate Ray Comfort even if we don’t agree on this issue) better than under the radical, “once saved, always saved” teaching that allows for continued sinning without repentance.

However, I believe that Scriptures do teach apostasy and that it is something we should beware of.  If we hold to the “never saved to begin with” theory, we must do something with the warning passages such as Matthew 18:21-35 or 24:4-5, 13 or Luke 8:21 or John 8:51 or 15:1-8 or Acts 13:43 or Romans 11:20-22 or 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:21 or 2 Corinthians 1:24 or Galatians 5:1-4 or 6:7-9 or 2 Peter 2:1-22 and so many more.  We must do something with the warnings issued by Jesus in Revelation 2-3 where He gives specific promises to overcomes and warnings to those who fail to abide in Him.  We must do something with the entire book of Hebrews!  We must view these warning passages as hypothetical or twist them to mean something than they clearly mean if we hold that a person can never fall from grace.

Further, I believe that such a view never truly gives assurance of salvation.  I have no problem teaching that a person must continue in the faith since this is all through the epistles (see Colossians 1:21-23 for example).  We should urge disciples to continue seeking Jesus always and always placing their faith and hope fully in Him and His cross for our salvation and never in our works (Galatians 3:1-5).  We should preach perseverance of the saints and not preservation of the sinner.  We should point out that there is never any promises of eternal life given to those abiding in sin.  None.  We should preach that the disciple of Jesus is called to victory in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:12-13, 37).  This leads to assurance that we are saved (Romans 8:14-17 in the context of Romans 8:12-13).  To tell people, “if you don’t continue in the faith, you were never saved to begin with,” how can this not lead to a lack of assurance?

Are there many promises given in the New Testament to the keeping power of God?  Yes!  I trust in them!  Yet every single promise is given to those who are in Christ Jesus.  Each passage assumes that disciples are in Christ Jesus through faith (John 10:27-29).  We are protected by God’s power through faith (1 Peter 1:5).  This faith is ongoing.  It not momentary.  It is not false. It is a continual trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ for our salvation.  We have the promise of 1 John 2:24-25 if we remain in Jesus by faith.

I do appreciate Ray Comfort greatly and praise God for his service to the kingdom of Christ.  His books on evangelism are excellent resources for all believers.  Both Arminians and Calvinists and everyone in-between can learn much from this man of God.  I just disagree with him over his teaching that anyone who turns away from the faith was never saved to begin with.  I don’t believe this faithfully deals with the warning passages of the New Testament and leads to a lack of assurance of our salvation.  The question before us is the same that the Puritans use to ask themselves daily, “Am I trusting today in the cross of Christ or in my own flesh?”  That is something we should all yearn for, that complete trusting in Jesus alone for our eternal salvation (2 Peter 1:10-11).

What bothers me is that I met so many people who go to church on Sunday mornings but ignore God the rest of the week.  They don’t pray.  They don’t intercede for the nations.  They don’t read and study the Word of God.  They don’t share their faith.  They don’t worship Jesus.  Instead they fill their lives with themselves or their families all week long.  They watch ungodliness on television and movies (hey it only has a few curse words in it, it’s not that bad) and they live as if God doesn’t even exist during the week.  But come Sunday, they put on their nice clothes and head off to the “house of God” where they will join in with others to watch the concert and hear the lecture.

As you can see, I am frustrated with that picture.  I see it repeated all the time.  I have seen good, strong disciples of Jesus who were passionate about seeking God, passionate about seeing the lost saved, settle into this lukewarm Christianity.  In my case, they left our fellowship to go to a more traditional, seeker-sentitive church and became just like the people there.  They quit praying.  They quit sharing the gospel with the lost (after all, it is a seeker sensitive church and one they can invite their friends to and not be embarrassed).  They stopped reading their Bible.  They became a shell of the people they use to be.  They begin to view myself and others like me as “too tough” and “legalists” instead of disciples of Jesus.

I am convinced that God calls us to be disciples of Jesus always.  God doesn’t want us to follow Jesus a little bit.  He doesn’t want us to follow Jesus when its convent to do so.  He calls us to be disciples all the time.  Jesus said that we were to take up our crosses daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23-25).  Are you doing this?  Do you daily follow Jesus?  Are you dying to self daily?  Are you seeking to focus on the eternal instead of the temporal (2 Corinthians 4:14-16)?  Are you serious about seeking God or is this a game to you?  When you read Luke 14:25-35, would that describe you?  Are you placing Jesus first and foremost in your life as your God?  Or have you replaced Him with idols (1 John 5:21)?  When you read 1 John 2:15-17, are you struggling with any of those sins?

The reality is that evangelicals have criticized Catholics for holding that Catholics receive grace for attending mass.  I find that evangelicals think that God honors them because they show up to a place called “church” on Sunday despite never seeking Him all week long?  They believe that they have done their duty to God by simply paying their “tithes” and listening to a sermon.  How wrong are we?  God wants all of us.  He doesn’t want our Sundays only.  He wants all of us.  We are to give Him our everything and He is to become our everything (Romans 6:15-23).  Notice Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13 where he says that he is forgetting what is behind (which were some good things religiously speaking) and is pressing on for what lies in front of him which is Jesus Christ (v. 14).  That is my passion as well.  I don’t want dead religion.  I don’t want typical Sunday worship.  I want more.  I want much more.  I want to be like Jesus in every way.  I want to follow Him completely.  I want Him to dominate my mind, my heart, and my soul (Mark 12:29-31).  I want Him to reign over my everything.  I want to die to self and follow Him forever.

I challenge you to be a disciple of Jesus daily.  Seek Him with all that is in you.  Make Him your passion.  Talk about Him often.  Pray to Him often.  Worship Him continually.  Adore Him.  Bow before Him.  Preach His gospel to others.  Glorify Him in all that you say or do (Colossians 3:17).

X. The Judicial Law is that which God prescribed by Moses to the Children of Israel, of whom He was in a peculiar manner the king. (Exod. 21, 22, 23, &c.) It contained precepts about the form of the political government to be exercised in civil society, for procuring the benefit both of natural and spiritual life, by the preservation and exaction of the outward worship and of the external discipline commanded in moral and ceremonial law, such as concerned magistrates, contracts, division of property, judgments, punishments, &c. (Deut. xvii, 15.) These laws may appropriately be referred to two kinds:

(1.) Some of them, with regard to their substance are of general obligation, though with regard to some circumstances they are peculiar to the Jewish commonwealth.

(2.) Others belong simply to a particular right or authority. (Deut. xv, 1, 2; vi, 19.)

XI. The uses of this judicial law also were three:

(1.) That the whole community of the Children of Israel might be regulated by a certain rule of public equity and justice; that it might be “as a city that is compact together,” (Psalm cxxii, 3,) [or as a body] “which is knit together” according to all and each of its parts,”by the joints and sinews” of the precepts prescribed in this law.

(2.) That the Israelites might, by this law, be distinguished from other nations who had their own laws. Thus was it the will of God, that this his people should have nothing in common with other nations, wherever this was possible according to the nature of things and of man himself. These two uses related to the existing condition of the Jewish commonwealth.

(3.) It had reference to future things, and was typical of them For all that state, and the whole kingdom and its administration, the chiefs of administration, the judges and kings, prefigured Christ and his kingdom, and its spiritual administration. Psalm 2; Ezek. xxxiv, 23, 24.) In this respect also the judicial law may be called “a schoolmaster [to bring the Jews] to Christ.”

XII. This law, so far as it had regard to Christ, was universally abrogated. No kingdom, no nation, no administration, serves now typically to figure Christ and his kingdom or administration. For his kingdom, which is the kingdom of heaven and not of this world, has already come, and he has come into his kingdom. (Matt. iii, 2;xvi, 28; John xviii, 36; Matt. xi, 11.) But with respect to its simple observance, this Judicial Law is neither forbidden nor prescribed to any people, nor is it of absolute necessity to be either observed or omitted. Those matters are accepted which are of universal obligation, and founded in natural equity. For it is necessary, that they be strictly observed, in every place and by all persons. And those things [in the judicial law] which relate to Christ as it respects the very substance and principal end, cannot be lawfully used by any nation.

VII. The Ceremonial Law is that which contains the precepts concerning the outward worship of God; which was delivered to the Jewish church, and was accommodated to the times in which the church of God was “as a child” under “the promise” and the Old Testament. (Gal. iv, 1-3.) It was instituted not only to typify, to prefigure and to bear witness by sealing; (Heb. viii, 5; x, 1;) but likewise for the discipline, or good order which was to be observed in ecclesiastical meetings and acts. (Col. ii, 14; Psalm xxvii, 4.) Subservient to the former purpose were circumcision, the Pascal Lamb, sacrifices, sabbaths, sprinklings, washings, purifications, consecrations and dedications of living creatures. (Col. ii, 11; 1 Cor. v, 7.) To the latter purpose, [that of church discipline,] were the distinct functions of the Priests, the Levites, the Singers, and the porters, or door-keepers, the courses or changes in their several duties, and the circumstances of the places and times in which these sacred acts were to be severally performed. (1 Chron. 24, 25, & 26.)

VIII. The use of this ceremonial law was,

(1.) That it might retain that ancient people under the hope and expectation of the good things which had been promised. (Heb. x, 1- 3.) This use it fulfilled by various types, figures and shadows of persons, things, actions, and events; (7, 9, & 10;) by which not only were sins testified as in “a hand-writing which was against them,” (Col. ii, 14,) that the necessity of the promise which had been given might be understood; but likewise the expiation and promised good things were shewn at a distance, that they might believe the promise would assuredly be fulfilled. (Heb. ix, 8-10; Col. ii, 17; Heb. x, 1.) And in this respect, since the body and express form of those types and shadows relate to Christ, the ceremonial law is deservedly called “a school-master [to bring the Jews] unto Christ.” (Gal. iii, 24.)

(2.) That it might distinguish from other nations the Children of Israel, as a people sanctified to God on a peculiar account, and that it might separate them as “a middle wall of partition;” (Ephes. ii, 14, 15;) yet so as that even strangers might be admitted to a participation in it by circumcision. (Exod. xii, 44; Acts ii, 10.)

(3.) That while occupied in this course of operas religious services, they might not invent and fabricate other modes of worship, nor assume such as were in use among other nations; and thus they were preserved pure from idolatry and superstition, to which they had the greatest propensity, and for which occasions were offered on every side by those nations who were contiguous, as well as by those who dwelt amongst them. (Deut. 12; xxxi, 16, 27-29.)

IX. The ceremonial law was abrogated by the cross, the death and the resurrection of Christ, by his ascension into heaven and the mission of the Holy Ghost, by the sun’s dispersion of the shadows, and by the entrance of “the body which is of Christ” into their place, (Col. ii, 11, 12, 14, 17,) which is the full completion of all the types. (Heb. viii, 1-6.) But the gradations to be observed in its abrogation must come under our consideration: In the first moment it was abrogated with regard to the necessity and utility of its observance, every obligatory right being at once and together taken from it: in that instant it ceased to live, and became dead. (Gal. iv, 9, 10; 1 Cor. vii, 19; ix, 19, 20; 2 Cor. iii, 13- 16.) Afterwards it was actually to be abolished. This was ejected partly, by the teaching of the Apostles among believers, who by degrees understood “Christ to be the end of the law,” and of that which was then abolished; they abstained therefore voluntarily from the use of that law. Its abolition was also ejected in part, by the power of God, in the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple, in which was the seat of religion, and the place appointed for performing those religious observances, against the contumacy of the unbelieving Jews. From this period the legal ceremonies began to be mortiferous, though in the intermediate space [which had elapsed between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem,] these rites, even in the judgment of the apostles themselves, might be tolerated, but only among the Jews, and with a proviso, that they should not be imposed on the Gentiles: (Acts xvi, 3; xv, 28; xxi, 21-26; Gal. ii, 3, 11, 12;) which toleration must itself be considered as being tantamount to a new institution.

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. (NKJV)

Several things I notice about this text.  First, notice that belief followed hearing the gospel.  We must hear the gospel to be saved (Romans 10:14-17).  This is why evangelism is so important to the disciple of Jesus.  We simply are following the command of our Savior to take the gospel to all of creation (Mark 16:15).  We believe that none can be saved without the gospel of Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5-6).

Secondly, notice that our salvation is found in Jesus.  Not in our own election.  Not in our doctrinal system.  Salvation is found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The focus of Ephesians 1:3-14 is not on you.  It is on Jesus.  Jesus is the main focus here.  Election in Arminianism is always Christ-centered and not man-centered.  Our focus is on Jesus whom God chose to send to die for our sins in our place (Isaiah 53:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Peter 2:21-24).  Over and over again the focus is on Him in Ephesians 1:3-14.  ”In Christ” (v. 3), “in Him” (v. 4), “by Jesus Christ to Himself” (v. 5), “His grace” (v. 6), “In Him” (v. 7), “He made” (v. 8), “His will” and “His good pleasure” (v. 9), “in Christ” (v. 10), “In Him” (v. 11), “in Christ” (v. 12), “In Him” (v. 13), and “His glory” (v. 14).

Thirdly, notice when the sealing of the Spirit takes place.  Paul writes that after believing, we are sealed with the Spirit.  This is important because the sealing of the Spirit marks ownership.  We become God’s elect when we believe the gospel.  We can debate about whether election is unconditional or conditional but the passage is clear that when we believe, we are then marked with the Spirit and become God’s possession.  This is detrimental to the teaching that regeneration must be before faith.  If this were the case, surely the Spirit knows those who are the elect already since He regenerates them before believing the gospel.  In fact, the regeneration before faith view teaches that the Holy Spirit must regenerate people before faith otherwise faith becomes and a work and a person has “worked” their own salvation through their own faith.  Yet this passage is clear that having believed, we are then sealed with the Spirit of promise.  Is then teaching a second blessing?  Is this teaching that the Spirit regenerates before conversion but then He does something else after conversion?

That someone receives salvation through faith as opposed to works is clear in the New Testament.  However, simply because someone has faith in the gospel and then is regenerated does not make this faith a work.  To receive a free gift that a person did not earn nor deserve does not make it less than a gift does it?  Even so salvation is through faith and a person is responsible to believe the gospel or reject it but salvation is always by grace through faith and not by works of righteousness that we have done (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7).  Yet a person is not force to believed nor could they not reject the free offer of the gospel if they so choose.  This does not make salvation by works but acknowledges that a person must believe the gospel to be saved.

IV. The uses of the moral law are various, according to the different conditions of man.

(1.) The primary use, and that which was of itself intended by God according to his love for righteousness and for his creatures, was, that man by it might be quickened or made alive, that is, that he might perform it, and by its performance might be justified, and might “of debt” receive the reward which was promised through it. (Rom. ii, 13; x, 5; iv, 4.) And this use was accommodated to the primitive state of man, when sin had not yet entered into the world.

(2.) The first use in order of the moral law, under a state of sin, is AGAINST man as a sinner, not only that it may accuse him of transgression and guilt, and may subject him to the wrath of God and condemnation; (Rom. iii, 19, 20;) but that it may likewise convince him of his utter inability to resist sin and to subject himself to the law. (Rom. 7.) Since God has been pleased mercifully and graciously to treat with sinful man, the next use of the law TOWARDS the sinner is, that it may compel him who is thus convicted and subjected to condemnation, to desire and seek the grace of God, and that it may force him to flee to Christ either as the promised or as the imparted deliverer. (Gal. ii, 16, 17.) Besides, in this state of sin, the moral law is serviceable, not only to God, that, by the dread of punishment and the promise of temporal rewards, he may restrain men under its guidance at least from the outward work of sin and from flagrant crimes; (1 Tim. i, 9, 10;) but it is also serviceable to Sin, when dwelling and reigning in a carnal man who is under the law, that it may inflame the desire of sin, may increase sin, and may “work within him all manner of concupiscence.” (Rom. vi, 12-14; vii, 5, 8, 11, 13.) In the former case, God employs the law through his goodness and his love for civil and social intercourse among mankind. In the latter case, it is employed through the malice of sin which reigns and has the dominion.

V.

(3.) The third use of the moral law is towards a man, as now born again by the Spirit of God and of Christ, and is agreeable to the state of grace, that it may be a perpetual rule for directing his life in a godly and spiritual manner: (Tit. iii, 8; James ii, 8.) Not that man may be justified; because for this purpose it is rendered “weak through the flesh” and useless, even if man had committed only a single sin: (Rom. viii, 3.) But that he may render thanks to God for his gracious redemption and sanctification, (Psalm cxvi, 12, 13,) that he may preserve a good conscience, (1 Tim. i, 19,) that he may make his calling and election sure, (2 Pet. i, 10,) that he may by his example win over other persons to Christ, (1 Pet. iii, 1,) that he may confound the devil, (Job 1 & 2,) that he may condemn the ungodly world, (Heb. xi, 7,) and that through the path of good works he may march towards the heavenly inheritance and glory, (Rom. ii, 7,) and that he may not only himself glorify God, (1 Cor. vi, 20,) but may also furnish occasion and matter to others for glorifying his Father who is in Heaven. (Matt. v, 16.)

VI. From these uses it is easy to collect how far the moral law obtains among believers and those who are placed under the grace of Christ, and how far it is abrogated.

(1.) It is abrogated with regard to its power and use in justifying: “For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by that law.” (Gal. iii, 21.) The reason why “it cannot give life,” is, “because it is weak through the flesh:” (Rom. viii, 3) God, therefore, willing to deal graciously with men, gave the promise and Christ himself, that the inheritance through the promise and by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But the law which came after the promise, could neither “make the latter of none effect,” (for it was sanctioned by authority,) nor could it be joined or super- added to the promise, that out of this union righteousness and life might be given. (Gal. iii, 16-18, 22.)

(2.) It is abrogated with regard to the curse and condemnation: For “Christ, being made a curse for us, hath redeemed us from the curse of the law;” (Gal. iii, 10-13;) and thus the law is taken away from sin, lest its “strength” should be to condemn. (1 Cor. xv, 55, 56.)

(3.) The law is abrogated and taken away from sin, so far as “sin, having taken occasion by the law, works all manner of concupiscence” in the carnal man, over whom sin exercises dominion. (Rom. vii, 4-8.)

(4.) It is abrogated, with regard to the guidance by which it urged man to do good and to refrain from evil, through a fear of punishment and a hope of temporal reward. (1 Tim. i, 9, 10; Gal. iv, 18.) For believers and regenerate persons “are become dead to the law by the body of Christ,” that they may be the property of another, even of Christ; by whose Spirit they are led and excited in newness of life, according to love and the royal law of liberty. (1 John v, 3, 4; James ii, 8.) Whence it appears, that the law is not abrogated with respect to the obedience which must be rendered to God; for though obedience be required under the grace of Christ and of the Gospel, it is required according to clemency, and not according to strict [legal] rigor. (1 John iii, 1, 2.)

I. Law in general is defined, either from its End, “an ordinance of right reason for the common and particular good of all and of each of those who are subordinate to it, enacted by Him who has the care of the whole community, and, in it, that of each individual.” Or from its Form and its Efficacy, “an ordinance commanding what must be done, and what omitted; it is enacted by Him, who possesses the right of requiring obedience; and it binds to obedience a creature who abounds in the use of reason and the exercise of liberty, by the sacred promise of a reward and by the denunciation of a punishment.” It is likewise distinguished into Human and Divine. A Divine law has God for its author, a Human law has man for its author; not that any law enacted by man is choice and good, which may not be referred to God, the author of every good; but because men deduce from the Divine law such precepts as are accommodated to the state of which they have the charge and oversight, according to its particular condition and circumstances. At present we will treat upon the Divine law.

II. The Divine law may be considered, either as it is impressed on the minds of men by the engrafted word; (Rom. ii, 14, 15;) as it is communicated by words audibly pronounced, (Gal. ii, 17,) or as it is comprised in writing. (Exod. xxxiv, 1.) These modes of legislation do not differ in their entire objects: but they may admit of discrimination in this way, the first seems to serve as a kind of foundation to the rest; but the two others extend themselves further, even to those things which are commanded and forbidden. We will now treat upon the law of God which is comprised in writing; and which is also called “the law of Moses;” because God used him as a mediator to deliver it to the children of Israel. (Mal. iv, 4; Gal. iii, 19.) But it is three-fold according to the variety of the object, that is, of the works to be performed. The first is called the Ethical, or Moral Law: (Exod. 20.) The second, the Sacred or Ceremonial. The third the Political, Judicial or Forensic Law.

III. The Moral Law is distributed through the whole of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and is summarily contained in the Decalogue. It is an ordinance that commands those things which God accounts grateful of themselves, and which it is his will to be performed by all men at all times and in all places; and that forbids the contrary things. (1 Sam. xv, 22; Amos v, 21-24; Micah vi, 6-8.) It is therefore the perpetual and immutable rule of living, the express image of the internal Divine conception; according to which, God, the great lawgiver, judges it right and equitable that a rational creature should always and in every place order and direct the whole of his life. It is briefly contained in the love God and of our neighbour; (Matt. xxii, 36-39;) whether partly consisting of those services which relate to the love, honour, fear, and worship of God; (Mal. i, 6;) or partly consisting of those duties which we owe to our neighbours, superiors, inferiors, and equals: (Rom. 12,13, & 14;) in the wide circle of which are also comprehended those things which every man is bound to perform to himself. (Tit. ii, 11, 12.)

The moral law, unlike the civil and ceremonial laws, are all repeated in the New Testament with the exception of the 4th commandment which is nullified.  This is why we can still preach the Law and see sinners repent before God (1 Timothy 1:8-11).  The Law leads people to see their sins before God and to acknowledge their guilt (Romans 3:19-20).  This can lead to justification by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:22-27).

Ten Commandments (Moral Law) in the New Testament

1.  Polytheism (Exodus 20:3) repeated in Acts 14:15

2.  Graven Images (Exodus 20:4) repeated in 1 John 5:21

3.  Swearing (Exodus 20:7) repeated in James 5:12

4.  Sabbath (Exodus 20:8) nullified in Colossians 2:16

5.  Obedience to Parents (Exodus 20:12) repeated in Ephesians 6:1

6.  Murder (Exodus 20:13) repeated in 1 John 3:15

7.  Adultery (Exodus 20:14) repeated in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

8.  Theft (Exodus 20:15) repeated in Ephesians 4:28

9.  False Witness or Lying (Exodus 20:16) repeated in Colossians 3:9-10

Source: The MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV), p. 124